Switzerland Today

Dear Swiss Abroad,

After a record-breaking September – the warmest since measurements began – October is showing a similar trend. The national weather office MeteoSwiss reports new temperature records at a number of locations in the Alps, such as 14.2°C at the Säntis mountain in northeastern Switzerland.

Read on for other news and stories from Switzerland today.

Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott

In the news: Swisscoy, elderly people and scammers, top restaurants and a NATO exercise.

• Switzerland says it has no immediate plans to deploy additional Swiss peacekeeping troops on the Swisscoy mission in Kosovo despite rising tensions in the region and news that NATO is beefing up its KFOR peacekeeping force after a deadly shootout. Switzerland currently deploys 195 troops on the Swisscoy mission in Kosovo as part of KFOR.
• A new study by Pro Senectutereveals that fraudsters are increasingly targeting elderly people in Switzerland, using online scams and selling overpriced items, for example. It is estimated that they are conned out of around CHF675 million a year.
• The 2023 edition of the Michelin Guide Switzerland has rewarded 138 establishments, five of which have been awarded two stars. The four restaurants previously awarded three stars retained their distinction.
• Switzerland is one of thirteen countries taking part in a NATO air exercise in southern Italy from October 2 to 13 aimed at strengthening defence capacities and international cooperation. Switzerland, which is not a member of the Western defence alliance, participates under NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PPP) programme.
• The new Director-General of the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM), Amy Pope, wants to combat mindsets that deaths in the Mediterranean are “normal”. On Monday in Geneva, she spoke of the need to help countries vulnerable to climate change.

• The Vaud Cantonal Court has sent Alain Soral, a Franco-Swiss essayist, to prison. It ruled that the far-right ideologue, by calling a journalist a “fat lesbian”, should be sentenced to 60 days behind bars for discrimination and incitement to hatred.

© Keystone / Alexandra Wey

A tree or a parking space?

What should Swiss towns and cities look like in the future? A recent poll offers interesting insights.

The survey carried out by the Sotomo research institute among 2,200 people – from both urban areas and the countryside – found that most Swiss want cities to be greener and less focused on cars.

Six out of ten people want to reduce traffic with car-free zones and speed reductions. A similar percentage are in favour of reducing parking spaces so that trees can be planted in their place and of having more dedicated cycle paths and fewer car lanes.

At the same time, a majority is in favour of extending the Swiss motorwaynetwork – but not in towns or cities. Also, 84% said public transport should be further developed in Switzerland.

But there appears to be a gap between greenwishes and expectations. While three-quarters of people said they want Switzerland to only emit as much CO₂ as it can extract from the atmosphere in 30 years, only 21% say this is realistic. Despite this colossal challenge, those interviewed do not want to give up without trying. Over three-quarters want more subsidies to renovate poorly insulatedbuildings and over two-thirds say the installation of solarpanels on new buildings and renovated buildings should be compulsory.

Who should live in Swiss cities in the future? Most people want to stop Swiss city centres becoming exclusive homes for the wealthy. Instead, 70% say more publichousing should be on offer and over 90% want the state to encourage affordable housing for the elderly. Cities should also become denser. Two-thirds are prepared to relax construction regulations to allow taller buildings to be built. 

Keystone

Imagine, finding John Lennon’s stolen watch.

One of the most sought-after stolen watches in the world has turned up in Geneva. The luxury Patek Philippe timepiece had been a present from Yoko Ono to John Lennon just two months before his murder on December 8, 1980. Now a courtdecision dated June 7, 2023 by the Geneva civil court reveals what actually happened to this mythic watch. 

After Lennon’s death, the watch passed to Ono. But Koral Karsan, a Turk who had been Ono’s privatechauffeur, is believed to have taken several items, including the watch, that had belonged to the former Beatles singer without the widow’s knowledge. In 2010, these items were handed over to another Turkish national, known as Erhan G. He later sold them to the German auctioneers’ firm Auctionata AG. 

For a long time, Ono suspected nothing. But in 2017, Auctionata went bankrupt. A lawyer making an inventory found the items that had belonged to Lennon, and informed the police.

Ono declared that she had not given these items to Karsan, although he had said she had. A criminal investigation led to a German court in 2019 sentencing Erhan G. to a year in prison, suspended, for receiving stolen goods. The ex-chauffeur is still in his native Turkey, which refuses to extradite him. 

But what about the missing watch? It was in fact sold in 2013 by Auctionata for CHF600,000 to a person known as A., an Italian “collector of watches and long-time professional in the industry”. It was only in 2014, when A. sent the watch to a company in Geneva to have it valued, that this firm contacted Ono. The widow asked that it be held pending restitution to her. 

A legal battle then followed between Ono and the collector. In A.’s view, the watch was not stolen. The case is still before the courts: the Italian collector has appealed to the Swiss Federal Court. 

As for the whereabouts of the famous watch, the decision by the Geneva court says that it is still in Geneva, “being held for safe keeping” by the lawyer representing A. It will stay there “until there is agreement or further order on the matter”.